It's clear that the one unified thread through this is challenges in terms of accessing financing. That's true. And that's a situation that is global in nature. Canada is relatively better off than other countries in terms of the health of our financial system. Having said that, there are some challenges, and some gaps have occurred.
In effect, the major thrust of the budget that was announced focused on access to financing through a series of measures, including, and in particular for the manufacturing sector, enhancements to the scope and ability of the EDC and BDC in terms of the size of the access, the range in which they can move, plus EDC's temporary expansion of its mandate into the domestic market in order to be able to provide some of the same types of services domestically that it does for export markets, and in terms of working very closely with the banks in order to coordinate, where possible, access to the financing and to close in some of the gaps left by some of the financial institutions that have withdrawn from the marketplace.
The government has also announced the creation of an asset-backed credit facility to help stimulate demand, in particular in the transportation and auto sector, and there are a number of other financial arrangements being put in place.